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Mid tech. That is what Bill Burke is planning to do and that is what he called it.

Read post #3 in this thread. Anything that is not 100% sole authorship is mid-tech.

100% Sole authorship and Custom are not interchangeable in my opinion.

That's ridiculous then. In my opinion. If custom knives demand a premium price I fail to see why I should pay more for a guy to cut out a blank himself with a hacksaw in his own shop with his own hand then if he sent the steel out to be precision cut.

That also means that all of HHH Knives are mid-tech then?

Custom is all or nothing huh? Very strange to me coming from 20 years of manufacturing experience. Good to know though.

That's ridiculous then. In my opinion. If custom knives demand a premium price I fail to see why I should pay more for a guy to cut out a blank himself with a hacksaw in his own shop with his own hand then if he sent the steel out to be precision cut.

That also means that all of HHH Knives are mid-tech then?

Custom is all or nothing huh? Very strange to me coming from 20 years of manufacturing experience. Good to know though.

-AJ

That may be just one example, other makers may farm out substiantially more, or even some less. The more time a maker spends on a task I would assume would increase the price. Considering that some makers only make 50 knives a years, I would say the price custom makers fetch is well within reason if not low for most, considering the amount of time they put into it.

I know how long it takes me to make a good custom handle and it is not profitable at all. I can't even comprehend the time it takes to make a custom knife.

Keep in mind with mid tech knives there is no customizing, I can't ask MR to make modifications based on my personal preference and still call it a mid tech.

Honestly, I don't give a crap what the definition is. I just want to know how my knife was made/what I'm paying for. Whether or not I like the idea of farming out some part of the processes or whether I think it is an upgrade or not/worth the money is a personal decision.

Well when you start making your own knives you will need to know what to call them

I understand why you put up the question but I don't honestly think you need to call it a mid-tech. You made it. It's an RRLOVER knife. I was giving you my point of view as a potential customer: I want to know what I'm paying for when I make my decision. That's all.

About 4 years ago, when I first started my round knife project, I had the very distinct priviledge of working with Bruce Devita at Crucible Specialty Metals. He was the first to suggest contracting the heat reating due to the complexities of the process for CPM Stainless series alloys. Bruce, as well as an ABS MS mentor suggested Paul Bos as being the best. But when I contacted him he told me he really wasn't interested in doing the super steel stainless alloys due to the same complexities mentioned above plus he had already tried to do round knives for someone else and "they warp like CRAZY." So I had to find someone and went back to my ABS MS mentor and asked if he would do it and teach me in the process. He also said no for the same reasons as PB and directed me to another heat treating company that has provided me great service ever since. Never had a warped blade yet and they come back looking BEAUTIFUL and always test right at Rc 58-59.....and I grind the blade to within .005-.010 of a finished edge. I choose to do it this way because I know that to provide the highest quality product I possibly can, utilizing S35VN, it best for me to have the heatreating done by professionals that know how to do it complete with triple temper and cryo. BTW, IMO contracting the HT is more expensive.

Now, when I do high carbon steel will I do the HT myself......Yes....after some very serious coaching by my mentor....might even try the whole hamon thing.

Yeah, I think transparency goes a long way. For me, "custom" means it was made to specs--that's it. "Handmade" means that the characteristic features were guided/crafted/shaped using manually controlled tools. "Mid-Tech" means "I am a custom artisan knifemaker and am not doing my normal thing with these, but I am guaranteeing them with my name".